Canceled Club Med trip should be fully refunded

By Christopher Elliott

Q: We booked a weeklong vacation through a travel agent affiliated with American Express (Altour) for last spring break. We had accommodations at the Club Med Miches Playa Esmeralda, including roundtrip airfare, for our family of four.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resort closed two weeks before our departure, and our trip was canceled. Club Med offered us a future travel credit for the land portion and an air credit for the flights. Last May, we rebooked with Club Med for spring break 2021.

Now the resort has not reopened, and our trip has been canceled a second time. They are again only offering us a future travel credit.

For the airfare, which we booked through Club Med but it is with American Airlines, we must use the flight credit before the end of this year.

We have been trying to work through our travel agent, but we have gotten only delays and obfuscation. I’m not sure if it’s the travel agent or Club Med.

At this point, we do not want to rebook, and we simply want a full refund of both the land and air portions of our trip. Club Med sold us a trip twice and canceled it twice. They have had $11,573 of our money for over a year. We feel it is not our responsibility to buy something else from them since they sold us a trip they cannot provide. We’ve told the travel agent that we want a refund, but she says they can only rebook. Can you help us get a refund?